252 R. Marloth.Ph.D., M.A . — On the Adulter atio7i of Brandy. [June 29, 



various laws are similar to the British Food and Drugs-adulteration 

 Aet of 1875. They forbid not only the sale of any food or drink, 

 which contain ingredients injurious to health, but also the sale of 

 any such goods, whicli are not of the nature, substance and quality 

 indicated by the name. They inflict comparatively high penalties 

 on the man who sells a mixture of milk and water under the name 

 of milk, or coffee mixed with chicory under the plain name of coffee, 

 or oleomargarine, alias butterine, for butter. The G-erman Supreme 

 Court at Leipzig for instance confirmed only lately the sentence of 

 several months' imprisonment, which a Provincial Court had passed 

 on a spirit-dealer. And this man had done nothing but manufac- 

 ture three leaguers of Jamaica-ram out of one leaguer of the genuine 

 article. It is doubtful whether our legislature is already sufficiently 

 impressed with the necessity of protecting our pockets against such 

 tricks of dishonest tradesmen, but I think that it is the duty of the 

 legislature of every country to protect the lives and the health of 

 its inhabitants. 



Some people may say that nobody is compelled to drink brandy, 

 but we must deal with men as they are and not as they ought to be. 

 The many efforts put forth by various governments to check the 

 consumption of distilled liquors have thus far failed. Neither increased 

 taxation of spirits nor severe penalties against drunkenness have 

 availed and in spite of the strenuous efforts of the temperance 

 societies the number of those who stick to alcoholism is immense. 

 But if we cannot abolish the use of alcohol we can very well diminish 

 the dreadful consequences of it by preventing the sale of a stuff 

 which is overcharged with health -destroying ingredients, and I dare 

 to express the hope, that the time is not very far when the sale of 

 food and drink Avhich are detrimental to human life will be as great 

 a crime at the Cape as it is in London, Paris or Berlin. 



